


Election Night

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-01-14
Updated: 2003-01-14
Packaged: 2019-05-15 10:58:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14789237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Election Night, and everything after





	1. Election Night

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

****

Chap. 1:  All Too Much and All You’ve Done

November 5, 2002

“You guys!  Get in here!  They’re gonna call it!”

This was it.  The moment they had worked for, tirelessly, endlessly, for more than four years.  The chance to have another four.

President Bartlet had decided to watch the returns in the West Wing, with everyone around him.  He didn’t want to be sequestered up in the Residence – win, lose or draw, he wanted to be with the people who had worked so hard to make it happen.  He and Abbey sat together, their hands clenched, their daughters and Annie, their granddaughter, standing behind them.  Leo stood behind Jed to one side, his hand on his old friend’s shoulder, his expression unreadable.  

“Quiet!” yelled CJ, as Sam used the remote to turn up the volume on the TVs, all tuned to NBC.

Donna and Margaret grabbed each other’s hands, and held their breath.

Josh stood to one side, hands on his hips, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Toby stood resolute, his eyes cast upward, his mouth chewing one last bite of pie taken from the plate in his hands.

CJ now stood with one hand covering her face, but then moved the fingers apart so she could peek at the screens with one eye.

Sam pulled Mallory in front of him, wrapped his arms around her waist, and squared his shoulders.

Bruno, Doug and Connie presented a united front in one corner of the office, to stand or fall together, no matter the outcome.

Debbie came in just at the last second, and rested her hands on Charlie’s upper arms.

You could cut the tension in the room with a very thin knife.

Finally, after much paper-shuffling, Tom Brokaw touched his earpiece, then looked at America, and spoke.  “Well, it was a wild ride, but with 65% of the precincts reporting in Florida, we are now able to confidently call this election in favor of President Josiah…”

That was all you could hear before hell broke loose in the West Wing.

There was an eruption of screams, yells, whoops, cheers and exclamations, as polling data flew in the air, thrown from CJ’s flailing hands.  Everyone was hugging, jumping and clapping.  Jed and Abbey, almost lost in the pandemonium around them, sat and kissed tenderly for a moment.  “Way to go, Jethro,” his wife murmured to him.  

“Couldn’t have done it without you, Sweet Knees,” he said, kissing her again before standing to hug Leo and his daughters and thank everyone in the room.  

Sam kissed Mallory, grinning the whole time, then let out a whoop of joy as he gave Toby and Josh enormous hugs.  Ed ran over to the TVs to start checking the other networks, to make sure they were calling it for the President as well.  CJ gave Bruno, Doug *and* Connie enormous kisses right on the mouth, then went gunning for Sam.

Ed and Larry grabbed Annie, and they improvised an awkward but heartfelt victory dance that had everyone laughing.

Margaret, Charlie, Carol and Ginger started opening bottles of Champagne that magically began to appear, and Debbie was beginning to make sure everyone had a cup.

Josh got a huge bear hug from the President and from Leo, and then he looked around for his assistant to give her one as well.  And that’s when Josh saw her.

In the midst of this maelstrom of celebration and buoyant joy, Donna stood, rooted to the spot she had been in since the announcement, hands covering her face, and sobbing uncontrollably.  Josh pushed through the crowd to get to her, his hands going to her arms as he tried to get through to her.  “Donna?  What’s the matter?  We *won*!  Why are you crying?”

And for the life of her, she didn’t think she could have told him.  It was four years, and a long campaign, full of sleepless nights and wounded idealism and worry and stress and jet lag and hope and passion and pride and hospitals and gunshots and hearings and victories and disappointments and heartaches and finally, overwhelming joy hitting her all at once.  It was all finally just too much.  Josh pulled her hands from her face, and had to duck his head to try to follow her eyes as she lowered her head, tears still pouring down her cheeks.  “Donna,” Josh said, laughing and pulling her into a huge hug.  He cradled her head on his chest, covered the back of her head with one hand, and hugged her tight.  “We won, Donnatella,” he said into her ear, holding her in the midst of a sea of happy faces.  “We did it,” he said, squeezing her hard.  He pulled her back to look into her face.  “We *did* it,” he said, beaming at her, and looking into her eyes.  

“I know…I’m ss…sorry, it’s just…” she said, sniffling and trying desperately to get it together.  “I can’t believe it,” she sobbed, and attempted to cover her eyes again.  She felt like the entire world had been lifted off of her shoulders.

“I know,” Josh said, laughing again.  He kissed her forehead, then pulled her in for another hug.  “I know.” He smiled into her hair. 

Leo came over to them, took one look at Donna, her face buried in Josh’s neck, and Josh’s sheepish expression, and chortled. “It’s ok, Donna.  Josh often makes *me* want to cry, too,” Leo said, hoping to make her laugh.  He did.  She pushed away from Josh, drying her face with the backs of her hands until Leo offered her his handkerchief.  “I’m sorry, Leo,” she said, trying hard not to be humiliated about crying in front of the Chief of Staff of the President of the United States.  

“You’re sorry, *‘Leo’*?”  Josh joked.  “It’s *my* shirt you just drenched, Weepy!”

Leo gave them both a paternal smile.  “Don’t be sorry, Donna.  Be happy.  We re-elected a good man to the Presidency.  It’s a great day,” he said, smiling down at her.  “And you helped make this happen.  I’m proud of you.”  He patted her arm, and shot Josh a look that said “take care of her,” and went to make sure plans were set for the President’s televised victory speech.

Josh turned back to Donna, who was taking a number of deep breaths, and she finally gave Josh a watery smile.  “Yikes,” she said, laughing a bit at herself now.  “That was so girly of me.”

Now Josh laughed, and ran a hand down the back of her hair.  “Well, now that the waterworks are out of the way, are you ready to party?”

Donna raised her eyes to him, and was just overcome, for another moment, with how much of her life was wrapped up in the man before her.  And marveled, for a second, that that fact didn’t bother her in the least.  And she was elated that she had at least another four years of him in front of her.  “Yes, I’m ready,” she said, launching herself at Josh one more time, to wrap her arms around his neck, give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for making me a part of all of this,” she said in his ear.  Then, with a sniffle, and a laugh, she let him go, and turned to face the chaotic room.

Josh slung an arm around her waist and surveyed the scene as well, grinning.  “You’re welcome Donnatella.  But, really, who are we kidding, it’s not like you gave me a choice in the matter.”

Donna just rolled her eyes at him, laughing and sniffling.  “You had to ruin the moment by being you, didn’t you.”

“It’s part of my charm, Donna.  Part of my charm.”

“That’s one word for it.”  She shook her head, and dabbed away the rest of the tears with Leo’s handkerchief.

Josh leaned his head towards hers.  “It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if you *hadn’t* been a part of it, Donna,” he said in a low voice, just for her ears.  “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.”  And with that, he dropped a kiss on the side of her head, and then headed across the room to find a glass of champagne.

Donna stood, beaming after him, until Margaret came up to her with a hug and a grin and a bottle of champagne.


	2. Election Night 2

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

****

Chap. 2: Land of 1,000 Dances 

Hours later, they were still partying.

The Bartlets and the senior advisors were back from the 4 Seasons, where the President had delivered his victory speech.  Upon their return to the White House, the Bartlets and the gang followed the sound of the party, and found the continuing West Wing festivities, which had at some point been moved to the mess.  Someone had brought in a CD player, and Larry brought in two extra-large cases of CDs from his car.  He sheepishly admitted that when he was in law school, he worked as a DJ to make extra money, and he had brought his music collection along to work that day, thinking that they might come in handy if they had something to celebrate.  

Hundreds of West Wing staffers danced, laughed, and sang along to cheezy songs for hours.  At one point they screamed the lyrics to “We Are the Champions” like they had just won the Superbowl.  CJ put in a request for “I’m too Sexy” and Larry was only too happy to comply.

Toby stood to one side, by a buffet table full of snacks, watching bemusedly as Donna, Margaret and Ginger led everyone in the Electric Slide.  Now, he thought, he had seen everything.

Josh came to stand by his side.  “Good God,” he said, laughing at Sam, who was attempting to move his body in time to the music.  It just wasn’t happening, but Sam didn’t look like he cared at all – he was having a blast.  “It’s like every bad wedding reception I’ve ever been to,” Josh laughed.  “Except, with work people and the President and First Lady of the United States.”

“If they play the Chicken Dance or I see Sam doing the Hokey Pokey, I’m calling Ritchie’s people and giving them the keys to the building.  Because at that point I’ll never be able to walk into this room again without seriously questioning our ability to govern,” Toby said, shaking his head.  He grinned as he heard the music change, and then saw CJ get up to lead everyone in “The Hustle.”  “You’re showing your age, Claudia Jean!” he yelled over to her.  

“Bite me, Toby!” she yelled gleefully back, as she whirled and backpedaled to the beat.

Now Larry was taking “line dance” requests.  Zoe and Annie put in a request for the Macarena, and they soon had the leader of the free world mimicking their hand motions from his position on the edge of the dance floor.

“I take it back.  NOW I’ve seen everything,” Toby said under his breath.

The crowd thinned as the night wore on, but an intrepid group of people remained, including the senior staff and their assistants, the campaign staff and the Bartlet family.  Larry put on the Beatles song “Besame Mucho,” which elicited a squeal of delight from Donna as she came up behind Josh.  “I love this song,” she said, half to herself as she watched the crowd dancing.  “My dad taught me to tango using this song when I was little.” 

Josh was about to make a crack about Donna, the tango, and the statistical probability that she was the only person from Wisconsin who had ever learned the intricacies of that particular art form, when a bemused and slightly tipsy Bruno, standing nearby, said, “Did I hear that someone knows how to tango?”

And to everyone’s amazement, including Donna’s, he grabbed her hand, led her to the center of the dance floor, linked their outstretched fingers, pressed his cheek to hers, wrapped his arm around her waist and began to tango the hell out of the song.  They’d take two steps, then he’d twirl her mid-stride as they moved forward across the room, her long skirt billowing out from her legs.  The crowd parted and began clapping along with the beat. 

And at that moment, an official White House photographer snapped a picture of Josh, his mouth hanging open in shock at the sight of his assistant expertly holding her own in an extraordinarily sexy dance, and Toby, his mouth open and his unlit victory cigar stuck on and dangling from his bottom lip, struck dumb by the sight of Bruno Giannelli gallantly guiding Donna Moss around a dance floor.

Josh was further astounded when Donna, now over the utter surprise of dancing with a man who she thought didn’t know the meaning of the word fun, suddenly got into the spirit of things, and started grinning into Bruno’s face.  They danced and sang the words to each other, shooting exaggerated looks of longing into each other’s eyes.  

Sam came up behind Josh and Toby at that point, mopping his face with a napkin.  He looked up to see what the commotion was about.  “Wow!  Who knew that Bruno had those moves…and that – Holy Cow! – that Donna had those legs!” 

Josh and Toby both said “Shut up, Sam,” at the same time.

Back on the dance floor, the song was coming to an end.  They ended with a flourish, with Bruno dipping Donna so low that the tips of her hair dragged on the floor.  And the whole room shouted the final words of the song:  “CHA-CHA-BOOM!”  Thunderous applause broke out for their performance, and with a bow, Bruno kissed the back of Donna’s hand.  She, of course, went bright red, but curtseyed in return.

Bruno, with a “so, who’s ‘da man’ now, boys?” look on his face, escorted Donna by the hand back over to Josh and Toby, who still hadn’t recovered.  “Thank you for the dance, Ms. Moss,” he said, cocking an eyebrow at the men and wandering back over to the table with the beer on it.

Donna was grinning from ear to ear, and after a minute looked over at Josh and Toby, who were staring at her with very new eyes.  “What?” she said, laughing.  

Larry was now inspired.  He shouted above the noise of the room, “Ok, ‘fess up – who knows how swing dance?” as he put “Jump, Jive and Wail” on “play.”

Ginger and Charlie each piped up with “I do!”, looked at each other when they heard the other answer, and then grinned.  Ginger ran over, grabbed Charlie’s hand, and led him to the floor.  The crowd let out an appreciative yell when Charlie took the lead, spun Ginger out, reeled her back in and began dancing with her in earnest.  President Bartlet in particular loved watching his young friend throw Ginger up over his head, spin her through his legs and dance like nobody’s business.  The crowd loved it, and tried mimicking the less dangerous-looking moves on their own.

They ended with Ginger dipping *Charlie* back over her arm, causing a huge roar of approval to go up in the room.

“What’s next?” Larry yelled, laughing.

“Margaret can Irish step-dance!” Leo shouted from the wings.

“LEO!” she yelled from across the room, coming forward with hands on her hips and wide, angry eyes.  “That was top-secret, privileged information!”

“Yeah, well I just upped everybody’s security clearance,” he yelled back, laughing as the theme from Riverdance started pumping out of the speakers.

Now the crowd was into it.  A chant of “Mar-GRET!  Mar-GRET!” went up all over the room, and hands pushed her to the center of the floor.  She rolled her eyes, brought her hands to her hips, and raised to her toes.  Picking up the beat, she skipped and stomped gracefully across the floor, the crowd backing up to give her room, and clapping along time to the music.  

Leo came up behind Josh and Toby.  “Isn’t she something?” he said, watching his assistant.  “Her hips don’t move!  It’s all in her feet!  How can she move that fast and not have her hips move?  It’s amazing.”

Josh and Toby exchanged a look.  “Leo?  Is there a reason why you’ve seen Margaret do this before?” Toby wondered, his eyebrows up where his hairline used to be.

Leo missed their curious glances, because he was enjoying watching Margaret do her thing.  “She taped Nigella for me one week, and she accidentally taped over the first hour of a home movie - one of her recitals from when she was a teenager,” he said, grinning now.  “She did not, however, to my ever-loving thanks, manage to tape over the last two hours.  I’ve been waiting for a good chance to use this one,” he said, laughing and clapping as Margaret finished her dance.  She shot her boss a withering glare, but then smiled as she accepted warm compliments from everyone in the crowd.

Larry glanced over at Leo and the boys.  “Well, since we’ve gone ethnic…” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. 

Toby heard him, processed the words, and then realized what was probably about to happen.  “Oh no,” he said, now looking for the nearest exit.

“What?” said Josh, not getting it…until the first strains of “Hava Nigila” started swirling around the room.  A loud whoop went up, and Josh and Toby were dragged, by the arms, by Donna and CJ to an already-forming circle of linked-armed, happy dancers.

After torturing Josh and Toby by refusing to let them leave the floor until the song was over, CJ kissed them both and sent them back to their corner.  Then, she saw Mrs. Bartlet clapping along as some of the older staffers tried to teach the younger folks how to jitterbug.  CJ thought that she hadn’t seen the First Lady look so happy or relaxed in over a year.  She went up to Mrs. Bartlet and said hello.

“Are you having fun, Ma’am?”

“Oh, Claudia Jean, you have no idea.  I haven’t been to a party this fun in…forever!  What a crew we’ve got,” she said, her eyes shining as she clapped along with the beat.

CJ smiled at her.  “Any requests for a song, Ma’am?”

Abbey got a whimsical look in her eye, and said, “Hmmm, perhaps!”

She went over to Larry, whispered in his ear, and started organizing the people around her into two long lines, one of men, one of women, facing each other.  As she did, a new song started playing – “Tears on My Pillow,” from the 50s, and from somewhere in the back of the crowd, someone caught on and yelled, “The Stroll!”  She laughed out loud, and yelled, “You betcha!”  She looked around for her husband, but she couldn’t find him, so she pulled CJ into position opposite from her, and said, “Ok, CJ, you lead!”  They moved into the space between the two lines of dancers, “strolling” down the line, then joined the end of the line when they danced all the way down.  Next down the row came Zoe and Charlie, tangoing their way along, and then Margaret and Ed, twirling and spinning each other with glee.  Josh laughed as he watched Bruno grab Mrs. Bartlet’s hand and pull her up for another run down the row.

By the end of that song, it was 2am, and everyone, while still exhilarated, knew that they’d have to go home at some point.  Larry yelled out for last requests, and the President came into view.  “A waltz, my good man,” he said, grabbing Abbey’s hand, bowing low over it and asking, “May I have this dance?”

Larry searched over his CDs, hoping to find something appropriate.  “How’s this?” he said, as “Moon River” filled the room.  “Excellent!” said Jed, with glee.  “A classic.  Just like my wife.”

Everyone just watched the First couple spin around the room for a minute or two, then watched as Leo led Mallory out onto the floor.  Everyone soon followed suit.  Josh turned to look at Donna, who looked like she was going to cry again.  “Look how much they love each other,” she murmured, her eyes full of Jed and Abbey.  “After everything they’ve been through, after all these years, there they are, so much in love.”

She sighed, then looked at Josh, who had been watching her as she spoke.  “I want that,” she said, quietly.

Josh gave her a soft smile, then held out a hand.  “You’ll have it,” he said, pulling her towards the dance floor.  He pulled her into his arms, held her against him with a hand to her back, and began to sway with her.  He brushed his lips across the crown of her head, and then, in her ear, said, “You try to dip me, and you’re fired,” softly twirling her out and then back in again. 

She laughed up into his eyes. “Impervious.”  

And unbeknownst to them, Jed and Abbey were watching them dance with the same soft hearts that Donna had turned on them just moments before.


	3. Election Night 3

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 3:  The Beauty Part of Winning**

By three am, Josh finally dragged himself out of the Wing and headed for his car.  Bruno was heading that way as well, so they fell into step next to each other.  They made small talk as they walked up the block to the parking lot.

“You know, as much as it pains me to admit it, Bruno…” Josh began, as they stopped by their adjoining cars.

“Yeees?” Bruno said, crossing his arms and smirking.

Josh sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.  “You and your team did an amazing job getting him re-elected.  We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Bruno brought a hand up to his heart in mock salute.  “Joshua.  I’m getting all misty over here.  Was that a compliment?”

“Yeah, and if you missed it, too bad, the moment’s over,” Josh said, chuckling a bit.  He cocked his head and contemplated the other man for a moment.

“What?” Bruno asked.

“You know, I’ve always wondered…”

“What?”

“The hair.  Real or fake?”

Bruno raised his eyebrows in bemused annoyance.  “Only my mother and my barber and God know for sure,” he said drolly.  “Now I’ve got one for you.”

“Ok.”

“’Cause I’ve always wondered.”

“Ask.”

“What’s up with you and Donna?”

Josh blinked, then folded *his* arms across his chest.  “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I’m really not sure that I did.  What are you implying?”

“I’m not implying anything.  I’m asking a question.”

“Why does everyone…” Josh was annoyed.  He looked away, and then looked back.  “Nothing.  Nothing is up with me and Donna.  She’s my assistant,” he said, by way of explanation.  He furrowed his brow, though, remembering a very similar conversation that had taken place with Amy months before.

“Still seeing Amy?” Bruno wanted to know, seemingly reading Josh’s thoughts.

“No,” Josh said, confused now.  “Why the sudden interest in my love life, Bruno?”

Bruno slid his key into his car door, turned it, then opened the door to stand half in and half out of his car.  “Because I think that if you let her get away, you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were when I first met you.”

“I don’t want Amy.”

“I know you don’t.  That’s not who I was talking about.”

Josh opened his mouth to retort, then closed it again, his mind whirling…from Joey Lucas telling him about the misdirection to Donna in a skimpy red dress to Donna not stopping for red lights to Donna holding his hand when they stitched up the bad one to Donna sleeping on his couch after the shooting, all the way back to the day when he met her and put his ID badge around her neck.  He raised his eyes to Bruno, with a new look in them.

“Ah.  And light dawns on Marblehead,” Bruno said, shaking his head.  

“She’s my assistant,” Josh whispered, his head spinning.

“And she’s a hell of a woman,” Bruno said, getting into his car, starting it, then rolling down the window to finish his conversation.  “And she can tango like nobody’s business.  And the election’s over.  We won.”  Bruno threw the car into reverse, his foot still on the brake.  “The beauty part of winning a second election, Josh?  You’re not running scared anymore.  Nobody’s going to care who you’re sleeping with, anymore.”  Bruno gave Josh a wan smile.  “Don’t screw this up.  That’s my last bit of free advice.”  With that, he backed up his car, and zipped out of the parking lot.  That left Josh standing in the cold and dark, his mind still racing around images of Donna from that night… of her long legs flashing from beneath her twirling skirt, Donna sobbing happy tears into his neck, Donna telling him that she wants the sort of love that the Bartlets have.

And with that, the first strategy of the 2nd Bartlet Administration was beginning to take shape.


	4. Election Night 4

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 4:  Gabbin’ with Abbey**

A stylishly coiffed Abbey wandered into the mess at 9:15am the next morning, wearing an aubergine suit and looking like she had gotten much more sleep than she really did.  She was surprised to see Donna there moving tables around and cleaning up from the night before.

“Donna!  Good morning!”

“Oh, good morning, Ma’am!” Donna said brightly.  “You look wonderful today.”

“Thank you!  Jed and I just did the morning talk shows.  I’m so thankful this election is over – and, you know, that we won of course,” she said smiling.  “Hopefully things can go back to the normal controlled chaos, as opposed to the insane schedule we’ve been keeping for the past few months.  Anyway.  What are you doing here this morning – I would have thought you’d have the day off.”

“I do, but Margaret and I wanted to come in and try to take care of some of this mess– the cleaning staff shouldn’t have to deal with it, they have enough to do.  Margaret will be right back, she just ran to her desk to return a phone call.”

Abbey smiled fondly at the younger woman.  “That’s exceptionally thoughtful of you both. We did leave quite a dent in the room,” she said, laughing and looking around at the aftermath of the party.  She moved to the other end of a table that Donna was pushing along the floor, and lifted the other end.

“Oh, Mrs. Bartlet, you don’t have to…”

“It’s OK, Donna, I don’t mind a little manual labor this morning.”  The got the table back into its normal place in the center of the room.  Donna didn’t feel right about the First Lady of the United States helping her this way, so instead of going for another table, she tried misdirection.

“Did you have fun last night, Ma’am?”

“I really did!  What a celebration,” Abbey replied, leaning against the table.  “And I was very impressed with your tangoing skills, Donna!  Actually, to be fair, I was more impressed with Bruno’s skills…because, I mean, really, Bruno?  Who knew?”

Donna laughed at that as she brought a cup of coffee over to Abbey, and gestured for the other woman to sit down while she kept working.  “You could have knocked me over with a feather when he pulled me out there.  Josh and Toby too, I think,” she said, smiling a bit at the memory of their stunned faces.  

“Well, that’s because neither of them have a romantic bone in their bodies,” Abbey said, laughing.  “And the tango is a very romantic dance.”

Donna knitted her brows as she wiped down one of the tables with a paper towel.  “Oh, I don’t know about that, Ma’am.  I mean, about Josh not being romantic.”

“Oh, really?” Mrs. Bartlet said, intrigued now, and suggestively moving her eyebrows up and down.

“Oh, gosh, no, not, I mean…with *Amy*, Ma’am,” Donna said, blushing a bit.  “Not…I mean…anyway.  Like, a while back, he was supposed to go to Tahiti with her, but the plans got all messed up, so he had me help him set up ‘Tahiti’ in his apartment for them – you know, palm trees, lights, stuff like that,” Donna said, frowning a bit to herself as she tied up a bag of garbage.

All Abbey could think at that point was, *Oh, Josh, you *JACKASS*.  Just what Donna wanted to do, help you plan a night of sex with Amy.*  But she kept that little observation to herself.  Instead, she asked, “Did I hear that they’ve broken up?”

“Yes.  I’m sorry about that, Ma’am, I mean, I know that she’s a friend of yours…you must have wanted them to work out.”

Abbey shrugged.  “Well, I like Amy very much, but it became pretty clear from the beginning, at least to me, that she and Josh wouldn’t work out.  She’s not…”  Abbey caught herself before she said “you,” and then backtracked.  “She’s not the one for Josh.  Come to think of it,” she said, with a gleam in her eye, “I have a pretty good idea of someone who’d be just perfect for him.  Maybe I’ll put that bug in his ear when I see him tomorrow.”

Donna tried very hard to keep her face neutral.  “That sounds great.  I hope it’s someone who’ll treat him well.”  She stopped, shook her head and laughed at herself.  “Wow, am I glad Josh wasn’t around to hear that.  He’d think I’d gone soft on him.”

Abbey laughed.  “I know you guys like to pretend that the other makes you crazy, but I think you two have a very special relationship, Donna.  I noticed you were a bit…emotional after they declared the election for us last night…I was going to come over and see if you were ok, but I was surprised and pleased to see that Josh had things under control.”

Donna went pink in the cheeks.  “Yeah, he was actually…great,” she said, smiling a bit, but then getting a bit of a faraway look in her eyes.

“Donna?  What?”

“What?  Oh, sorry, Ma’am, it’s nothing.”

“Donna.  Tell me what’s wrong.”

*I’m in love with my boss and it’s making me crazy?* Donna thought to herself as she came over to sit by the first lady.  *Yeah, probably not what she’d be expecting to hear,* Donna thought.  Donna sighed.  “It’s kind of difficult to explain, Mrs. Bartlet.”

“I’m an educated woman, Donna, I understand many difficult things.”

That made Donna smile.  “Well, I was going to start off by saying that ‘I never doubted, for a second, that we’d win again,’ but my little emotional outburst last night would probably prove me a liar,” she started.  

Abbey smiled at her.  “It’s ok, Donna.  It was a close election.  It could have gone either way.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.  I’ve just…”  Donna sighed.  “I don’t know how to say this.  I owe Josh a lot.  He took me on when he had no reason to even consider hiring me – no degree, no experience.  Sometimes I wonder just what the hell he was thinking.”

Abbey smiled inwardly.  *I bet I do,* she thought to herself. 

“But I’ve been…worried, lately,” Donna said, looking down at her hands, then up again.  “I mean, what would I do with myself, if…if we didn’t win?  Where would I go?  I haven’t had time, working for Josh, to take classes, finish up my degree, figure out who I want to be.  Not that I’m complaining about working for Josh, Ma’am, and for the President; I’ve loved every minute of it…”  Donna sighed.  “Do you have any idea what I’m getting at, here?”

“I think so,” Abbey said, patting Donna’s arm.  *You’re in love with him and you don’t want to lose what little of him you have, now,* she thought to herself.

“Good; could you tell me, because I have no clue,” Donna said, laughing.

“Donna, it’s incredibly smart of you to be thinking about your future.  And I know that this would be a hard conversation for you to have with Josh.  I know you think that you owe Josh a lot for taking you on, but you’ve paid him back in spades, Donna.”  Abbey studied the younger woman in front of her. “Have you ever considered that Josh owes a lot of his success over the past four years to you?”

Donna remembered Josh’s words from the night before:  “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.”  She always cherished those rare and precious moments that they had shared over the years.  She held onto them fiercely, and they got her through the times when she wondered just what she was doing with her life, or when he was angry with her, or when he was sleeping in another woman’s bed.  

“Yes, I think I’ve been useful to him…”

“Useful?  Donna, you were no small part of holding him together, during the first campaign, after…after Rosslyn,” Abbey said, determined not to get emotional remembering that time.  “That Christmas, when he wasn’t well…throughout the hearings, and all the time in-between.  I think you know that about yourself, but you’re too humble to say so.  And I think that’s why you’re having a hard time thinking about leaving.  Because deep down, you know, and you know correctly, that he won’t want to let you go.”  *For more reasons than you suspect, methinks,* she thought.

Donna nodded, agreeing silently.  “I’m afraid to leave him.  I mean, I know he’ll be fine, he’ll just get another assistant, no big deal, I just…and it’s not like I don’t love my job!  I do.  I love working for Josh.  It’s just that I’m afraid that if I don’t start thinking about where I can go from here, I’ll just be in this same position four years from now.”  *Stuck working for a man I’m in love with, who has no feelings like that for me whatsoever,* she thought with a touch of despair.  “My life is all about taking care of Josh.  And lately…”

“That hasn’t been enough?”

“No, Ma’am,” Donna corrected her, “It’s that it’s almost too much.  What happens when it’s all over, and there’s no more Josh to take care of?  Last night, when I burst into tears?  Partly, it was because I was so thankful and relieved that the President was re-elected.  I believe in him so much,” Donna said, drawing a squeeze on the hand from Abbey.  “But the other part of why I got upset…I think it was mostly because I was so overwhelmed and relieved, at that moment, that I wasn’t going to have to leave Josh…I mean, the job,” she said, flicking her eyes at Abbey.  “I was so thankful, just for that moment, that things don’t have to change.  But, in the light of day…”

“You need something more,” Abbey answered for her.

Donna smiled.  “I need something more,” she said.  “I can’t be that scared again, four years from now.  I take care of Josh.  It’s what I do.  I’m good at it.  But I need to take care of me, now, and I know I have a right to do that, but I feel…like I’m betraying him.  And that if I stop taking care of him, and the next person doesn’t do a good job…”  

They both had an image of Josh, with anger in his eyes and a bandage on his hand.  

Abbey shook the image away.  “He’s a grown man, Donna.  He has to know that you can’t be his assistant forever.”

“Well, you and I know that, Ma’am,” Donna said, laughing.  “I just don’t think Josh has ever, or will ever, see me as anything else.”  Donna rose to finish wiping off a nearby table, trying to keep her hands busy.  “Anyway,” she said, “I don’t even know what else I would even be qualified for around here.  At least I have four years to work it out,” she said, frowning again.  Then her head snapped up as she realized how long they had been talking.  “Mrs. Bartlet, I’m so sorry, I’ve been talking your ear off.  You must have an incredibly busy day in front of you.  Thank you for listening to me go on…”

“Hmmm.”

Abbey was watching her, tapping a finger against her cheek.  

“Ma’am?”

“I have an idea on how we might help you with one part of your dilemma,” Abbey said.  “Now that the hearings and the election are behind us, and some time has passed since they, you know, took my license away?” Abbey asked, getting a sympathetic look from Donna.  “It’s ok,” Abbey said, understanding the look the younger woman had given her.  “Now that I’m not the political liability I was just a few short weeks ago, I can start using this position to push for real change.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  I want to strengthen my office’s ties to the West Wing, and support what they’re doing in a much more visible way.  But, at the same time, I want to see if we can’t get some more of the issues that I’m concerned about – healthcare, childcare, education – onto my husband’s radar screen.  The way I see it, if we can put a man on the moon, if we can win two World Wars and the Cold War, if we can emerge as the greatest superpower in human history – then we can feed all our children, and make sure they and their parents can see an affordable doctor when they need to.  If we can cure smallpox and polio, two of the greatest scourges of the millenia, then can a cure for AIDS and cancer, Alzheimers or…”

“MS?” Donna added, inspired now.

Abbey smiled broadly.  “Yes, can a cure for MS be far behind?  We have four years, Donna, and I want my final four years here to be more than just a footnote in the history books, found under ‘First Ladies:  Fashion Styles and Redecorating Efforts.’  You could say that *I* want more for me, too; I also want to be known as more than just the woman who takes care of the man in her life,” she said, sympathizing with Donna.  “There’s a reason why we remember Eleanor Roosevelt as one of our greatest First Ladies all these years later – she *did something* with the position.  She effected real change.  I wasn’t elected, and I’m no longer a practicing doctor, but I have a hell of a lot of clout.  I want to start using it.”  Abbey folded her hands on top of the table, and made her pitch.  “I need a liaison - someone who is respected in the West Wing.  Someone whose presence and ideas are accepted and welcomed,” Abbey said, smiling knowingly at Donna, “and also someone who isn’t afraid to stand her ground, make her case, sell her points.  Someone who can work with Josh Lyman to make things happen on the issues that I care about, someone who can get Toby to listen to her when I need the President to add something important to a speech.  I need someone who can compromise.  Someone who will work hard to make sure that the East and West Wings are communicating with each other.  Someone who I respect to get the job done, and always tell me the truth.  Someone, my dear girl, exactly like you.”

Donna was speechless. “Ma’am?  Are you offering me that position?”

Abbey laughed.  “If I wasn’t, that’d be a hell of a waste of a good sales pitch.  Yes, Donna, I am.  The job would keep you in contact with the West Wing, and Josh, so you could make sure he was surviving without you.  You wouldn’t be his subordinate anymore, but I think it would allow the two of you to develop a new sort of relationship,” Abbey said, trying hard not to laugh and give away the real meaning of her last words.  “Are you interested in my offer, Donna?”

The look of excitement on Donna’s face made her response clear enough.  “Well.  I think that’s my answer.  Let me talk to the Hiring Office and then Josh before you mention it to him, ok?  I’ll help prepare him for the radical notion of life without you.”  *As his assistant, anyway,* Abbey thought with glee.

Donna winced inwardly at those last words, but allowed her excitement at this opportunity to overpower her own dread at the thought of life without Josh in it all day.  “Ok.  Ma’am, I…I don’t know what to say.  It has been the greatest honor of my life to work for this Administration.  I’m honored, again, that you have so much faith in me.  I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t, and for someone who claims not to know what to say, you just said that very well.  I’m glad I wandered in here this morning!  Why did I come in here, again?”

“No idea, Ma’am.” 

“Well, it was fate, then.”  Abbey smiled at her, then stood to leave.  “Don’t worry, Donna.  Things have a way of working themselves out.  Now, I’m ordering you to pack up and head for home.  Take the rest of the day for yourself; tomorrow, the insanity starts all over again.”

Donna beamed at her.  “Yes, Ma’am.  Thank you, Mrs. Bartlet.”  And as Donna watched the First Lady’s retreating form, she was both grateful for being given a chance, and scared that she’d lose the only other person who had ever done that for her.


	5. Election Night 5

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 5:  The Love Doctor is In**

Josh drew a very long, very deep breath, and then knocked on the heavy wood door in front of him.  

“Come in.”

Josh pushed the door open, walked in, and shut the door behind him.  He stood awkwardly, waiting to be addressed.

“Joshua.”

“Bruno.”

“You do realize that we don’t have to see each other anymore, now that the election’s over, right?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Apparently.”

Josh sat in one of the visitor’s chairs across from Bruno’s desk.  Bruno, looked down over the top of his glasses at Josh with a glare for a long moment, then sighed, dropped the folder in his hands, pulled his chair up even with his desk, folded his hands on his desk, and waited.

Josh fidgeted, ran his hand through his hair, pulled at his tie, jumped up and started pacing the room, then sat back down to start the process all over again.

“Something wrong?”

Josh started to speak, then stopped, frustrated.  He looked towards the wall, and then asked the question that had kept him up all night.  “Why did you ask?”

“Joshua, I am not the Amazing Kreskin.  Give me some idea, for the love of God, of what you’re talking about.”  Bruno knew full well what was going on, but he had endured an entire campaign’s worth of grief from Josh Lyman, so he was going to enjoy every minute of this.

Josh now glared at him.  “Last night.  Election night.  Parking lot.  Why did you ask me what you asked me?”

“Why?”

“Yes, why?”

“You mean, aside from ‘cause I’ve always wondered?’”

“Yes.”

“Josh.”

“Bruno.”

“They tell me you’re a very smart man.”

“I am.”

“So do we really need to do this?”

Josh stood up and paced again.  “I need to know…what you see.  What others see.”  Josh looked up to see that Bruno was thoroughly enjoying the exquisite discomfort that Josh was in.  “This isn’t funny, Bruno.  I’m worried about what people are saying about her.”

“Relax.  People with small minds wag their tongues, but they have small minds, so you shouldn’t worry about them.  But people do talk, yes.  They wonder just what’s going on with the Deputy Chief of Staff and his gorgeous assistant.  Because those two?  They talk in unison, like they share the same brain.  And she looks at him like the sun rises and sets where he stands.  And he lights up when she enters the room.  And she knows how to handle him.  And he’d walk over hot coals for her.  And when they banter with each other, which is all the time, most folks within earshot say ‘why don’t they just do it and get it over with.’  No one really thinks you’re screwing your secretary, Josh, but most everyone is wondering why the hell you aren’t.”

“Because she’s my *assistant,*” Josh said, emphasising the last word with wide-open eyes.

“We established that last night.  And, you know, when I first met you.”  Bruno tried a different tack.  “Are you going to sit there and tell me you’re not crazy about her?”

Josh sat back down in a huff.  “Yes…I mean, of *course* I am, she’s my best friend,” he said, then sat back, amazed, because that was the first time he had ever said that out loud.  “She’s brilliant and nutty and funny and caring and gorgeous.  But she all but hired herself 5 years ago, so I never got the chance have her be anything but my assistant.  And she was so *young*, when she came on board…I didn’t want to be one of those men, one of those bosses…”  Josh sighed and faced the wall again.  “I worked very hard at turning off any…feelings,” he said, turning back.  “I’ve done nothing for five years but make a Herculean effort to turn off my feelings.  You’d have to be dead to not have feelings for her.  I should be given an award for my ability to turn off those feelings.”

“Josh.”

“Bruno.”

“What is this, Loveline?  Why are you here?”

“I want to know how you saw what I thought I had turned off.”

“Josh.  You are so not turned off.”

“I was.”

“You’re not anymore.”

“What happened?”

“You fell in love with your assistant when you weren’t looking.”

Josh just stared at Bruno again. Then he got up to leave without saying a word.

Bruno let just the slightest hint of a smile escape his lips, picked up his discarded folder, and began whistling "Besame Mucho" to himself.


	6. Election Night 6

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 6: This Moment in His Life**

Thursday morning, the question on everyone’s lips in the West Wing was, “What’s up with Josh and Donna?”

Because they were definitely not acting like Josh and Donna.

She was nervous, tight-lipped, and fidgety, anxious about how Josh would react once the First Lady came to speak with him.  Josh kept making lame excuses to come out and talk to her, which just made her more nervous, because she felt like she was hiding something from him.  And Josh, not knowing what the hell was going on, was now worried that she was nervous because she had seen through him, just like Bruno had, and that she wasn’t comfortable around him anymore.  They were a comedy of errors that just kept getting more ridiculous until Donna, exasperated, shouted at him to get the hell out of the bullpen so she could think, and he retreated to his office, slamming his door in a huff.  But he sat at his desk, bewildered and not really sure what was going on.

For the first time in almost two years, Donna took an actual, out-of-the-office lunch.  She needed room to pace and wring her hands and worry.

Abbey Bartlet happened to come knocking on Josh’s door while Donna was away.

“Come in,” Josh half-yelled, half-mumbled, half-heartedly.

“Josh.”

Josh’s head snapped up, and he began to rise out of his seat.  “Hey, Mrs. Bartlet.  How are you today?”

“I’m wonderful, Josh.  I’m like a new woman.”

“Really, Ma’am…that’s…wonderful…why, exactly, are you so new…and, womanly…?”

Abbey just raised her eyebrows at Josh, as if to say, “Huh?”

Josh ran a hand over his face.  “Sorry, Ma’am.  I’m just…it’s been a long day, already.  What can I do for you?”

“Well, Josh, I’ll tell you.  You can let your assistant come work for me.”

Josh’s hand stopped moving on his face, over his nose and mouth, at her words.  He stared at her for a moment, then dropped his hand.  “Ma’am?”

Abbey tried *really* hard not to crack a smile, but she was on the verge of losing the battle.  “I had a little talk with Donna yesterday, and we had a great discussion about all manner of things,” Abbey began, folding her hands on her lap and thinking to herself, *I’ll just hold onto that Tahiti story in case I need ammunition at some point.  Jackass.*  “Mostly, we talked about her job.  She loves working for you, Josh, but she’s looking forward to her future, and wants to start thinking about where she’s going to go from here.”

*Josh* was trying really hard not to have a full-blown panic attack.  All he was hearing was “blah blah blah ‘loves her job BUT’ blah blah ‘she’s thinking about where she’s going to go.’”  He had absolutely no words for this terrifying moment in his life.  He thought it was bad when her friend Casey had offered her that internet job, which would have been more money and prestige than she had ever have hoped for.  She should have taken it.  If he was Donna, *he* would have taken it.  But he was in no way able to deal with the notion of Donna not being with him, and his attempts at dismissing the job and the offer out of hand seemed to have worked in getting her to stay.  He thought it was bad then.  This was much worse.  The First Lady had a bit more pull than Casey Reid, and Josh knew it.

He tried to calm himself down before speaking again.  “How…I mean, what…why did she…how did this happen again?”

“Josh.  She’s worried about what she’s going to do with her life once you, and this job, are no longer in it.”

“Why?  Why would I no longer…I mean, why would the job no longer be…” he paused, and then slowly, the pieces began to fall into place for him.

“Yes, Josh.  She was terrified about the possibility of us losing that election, because she didn’t know what that would mean for her future.  Although I am proud to say,” Abbey said, laughing a bit, “she told me that her first concern was for the country if the President didn’t get reelected.  She’s quite a woman.  Anyway,” Abbey said, waving her hand to get back on track, “she’s worried about her lack of a degree, and while she’s happy to have 4 more years before it’s a problem, she doesn’t *want* to be in that same position four years from now.  She wants to move forward with her life.”  Abbey got a mischievous gleam in her eye now that Josh, in his panic, missed.  “I would have thought, Josh, that as her supervisor, you’d have had a conversation with her about how she might be preparing herself for other job opportunities or promotions within the Administration.”

“Other job opp…Ma’am, I’d never just *leave* Donna behind when we leave, be it now or four years from now!  Does she not know that I’m taking her with me, no matter where I end up?”

Abbey just sat and let Josh absorb those last words for a moment, hoping that he wasn’t so full of himself that he couldn’t see how incredibly one-sided that was.

Clearly, she was going to have a long wait.  Because Josh was now staring at her in wide-eyed disbelief, and not really doing the soul-searching she was hoping for.

Abbey sighed, and leaned closer to the desk.  “Josh.  Do you really think Donna wants to spend her life as your assistant?  Don’t you think she should aspire to more than that, that she should aspire to something for herself?”

She got no words from Josh, just stunned silence.  

“Let me put it another way,” Abbey said, sitting back now.  “Do *you* really want Donna to spend her life as *just* your *assistant?*”  Abbey, of course, meant, “Or do you want to marry her and raise a houseful of brilliant yet smart-alecky kids in a big house in Connecticut while you write your 5th book and help Donna run for Congress?”  Josh, on the other hand, heard, “Do you really want Donna to spend her life schlepping along after a bad-risk case like you?”

He sat back now, accepting.  “What’s the job?” he asked, softly.

Abbey filled him in on the Liaison position, and her hopes for greater visibility and clout.  “I want to leave something behind, Josh,” Abbey said, quietly.  “I don’t want my legacy to be ‘She was the one who got her license taken away, and almost cost her husband a second term.’”  Josh started to interrupt to disagree, but she shook her head.  “It’s ok, Josh.  I’m a realist.  What I’m here to tell you is, I have four years to make that the *footnote* to my brilliant tenure as First Lady,” she said with a smile.  “To do that, I need to start working more closely with you guys.  I need someone who can work with you all.  I need someone I can trust, who would do an outstanding job, who wants these things as much as I do.  I need Donna.”

*I need her too,* Josh thought, fleetingly, then pushed that thought away.  “Did Donna say if she was interested in the position?” Josh asked, looking down at his hands with a ray of hope in his heart.  

“She did.”  There went Josh’s ray of hope.  “She seemed very excited about it, Josh.  I didn’t discuss this with her, but I think the position would also give her a *little* more free time – she might be able to take some classes, and get that degree in hand, finally.  She was excited,” Abbey concluded.  “The only thing holding her back, however, was that she was very scared that you’d react…poorly,” Abbey said, trying not to add, *And, clearly, she was right to do so.*  “She’s very concerned that you’re going to think she’s betraying you, somehow, by reaching out for something for herself.”

*So that’s why she’s been on edge all day,* Josh thought to himself.  *She’s nervous about telling me about this.*

“She needs your support on this, Josh.  Do you think you can live without her?”  Abbey concluded, hoping that Josh knew the right answer to the *real* question she was asking there.

Josh tried to look chipper.  “Sure.  It’s a great…opportunity for her.  Great idea, Ma’am.”

Abbey narrowed her eyes at Josh, trying to read him.  “So you’ll encourage her to take the position?” she asked.

“Absolutely.  When should she start?”

“How soon can you get a replacement?”

“I’ll just get someone from the temp pool until we can hire someone…else,” Josh said, looking out his window and then back at Mrs. Bartlet.  “She can just clear up loose ends here tomorrow, and then…start with you on Monday,” Josh said, resigned now.

Abbey smiled.  She hoped that Josh would soon get over himself and realize all the possibilities that this new arrangement would provide.  “Thank you, Josh.  You’re doing a good thing, here.”

“Sure, Ma’am.  No problem.”  Josh felt like he had a boulder sitting on his chest.

Abbey paused in the doorway to his office, started to say something to him, but then changed her mind.  She left Donna note on her desk, and left Josh staring out his office window.


	7. Election Night 7

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 7:  Mister Misdirection**

Donna rounded the corner into the bullpen with dread oozing out of every pore in her body.  Her toes were nervous.  Her *eyelashes* felt heavy with apprehension.  She was seriously glad she had decided against buying a hot dog from a street vendor on the Mall, because she was quite sure the floor in the bullpen would be wearing it right now if she had.  

She edged around the corner, and tried to silently slip into her desk chair.  She had just about relaxed her shoulder muscles when she heard a rather chipper “Hi!” right behind her.  

Donna jumped a mile, let out an ear-splitting “Aaaaaaaaaaaa!” and managed to knock most of the right-hand side of her desk onto the floor in the process.  She whipped around, her hand pressed against her heart, and glared at Josh.  “WHAT is the matter with you?” she said, completely undone.

“Nothing,” Josh said, giving what he thought was an Oscar-worthy impression of a man whose life wasn’t, in fact, about to come to a terrifying, jarring halt.  “Sorry, did I scare you?”

Donna just glared at him, gesturing to the pile on the floor, and then swinging her arm around to gesture at the entire wing full of employees who had stopped short at her scream of surprise.

“Sorry,” Josh said again.  “But I was just excited to come talk to you.  Mrs. Bartlet stopped by, and she told me about the position you’re taking.  That’s great, Donna, congratulations.”

Donna, now down on her knees gathering file folders and pens and Post-It notes and the contents of her purse, stopped and stared up at him, the pit in her stomach now leaden and knawing at her.  “Josh, I…”

“We’ve got it all set, if you could just spend today and tomorrow getting everything ready for a temp, you can start over in the East Wing on Monday.  Wow, this’ll be the first weekend off for you in like, forever!  You should do something fun, celebrate your new job.”

“But, Josh, I wanted to talk to you about it, first…”

“Why?  Don’t you want the position?  It’s a great opportunity for you, Donna!” Josh said, convinced that he was going to get a migraine from the forced gaity he was spewing out.

“Yes, I mean, you’re right, it would be, but I’m worried about…” Donna looked up at him, then rose to her feet.  “I mean, I’m worried that things will…fall through the cracks, while you’re breaking someone in.  Don’t you think I should stay on, help you train someone?”  *Don’t you want to try to stop me from going?  Aren’t you angry that I’m leaving?  Don’t you need me even just a little bit?  Is this not *killing* you the way it is me?* is what she really wanted to ask.

“No, it’ll be fine.  You’ve got everything running so smoothly, I can’t imagine it’ll be hard for someone else to step in.  Wow,” he said, shaking his head and smiling at her.  “I can’t believe this is the end of the road for us, Donna.  It’s been a great partnership.  Thank you for all your hard work.  You’re going to be great as the East-West Liaison.”

He took a step back, a smile on his face.  “I’ve got a meeting, I’m gonna run.  You can take off early tonight, if you want.  It’s still so quiet, with the election just over, this is actually a good time for a transition to occurl, now that I think about it.  So take off whenever you’re all set, ok?  I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and waving at her as he walked down the hall.

And if he had looked back, he would have seen Donna, holding a file in a death grip, with a look of utter devastation on her face.  And he would have seen her there, standing in the midst of the chaotic remains of what had, moments before, been a most carefully ordered world. 

___________________

Josh walked calmly down the hall, out into another wing, and into the Men’s room with a smile on his face, but the second he was through the door, his shoulders sagged, his face fell a mile, and his head started pounding.  He walked right over to the side wall of the room, pressed his back up against the wall, and tried to tune his mind to the soothing hum of the flourescent lights.

*FLUSH*

*CREAK*

“Joshua.”

“I don’t want to talk to you, Bruno.”

“Obviously not, or else we’d be in the parking lot.”  Bruno started washing his hands at the sink.

Josh just tried to straighten his spine and think happy thoughts, but they just weren’t coming.  He closed his eyes and clenched his fists tighter and tighter until he finally couldn’t take it any more.  “It’s all your fault, you know.”

Bruno gave him a bemused stare, blinking at him a few times for good measure.  “What are you doing, there?”

“I’m relaxing.”

Bruno looked all around them, and then back at Josh, and stated the obvious.  “In the Men’s Room?”

“It’s PEACEFUL,” Josh shot out.  “I like the echo.  And there are no women allowed.  And I’m not talking to you.”

“Why not?”

“Because everything was FINE…” Josh yelled the last word, and the echo he was so fond of broadcast the word for miles.  He started again, softer but still angry.  “Everything was fine, until you asked me…what you asked me.  I had it under control.  And now she’s leaving me.  It’s all your fault.  I’m just sayin’.”  Josh gave up the pretense of trying to trying to make the wall work for him, and started storming out of the bathroom.  He pulled himself up short at the door, remembering the role he had to play, and pushed out with a neutral expression on his face.

Bruno looked at the closing men’s room door, and said to himself, with no small amount of glee, “Well.  I’m glad we had this talk.”


	8. Election Night 8

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 8:  Coming Into Her Own**

It was with a fairly heavy heart that Donna showed her ID badge to the security guard on Monday morning, and headed for the East Wing, opposite the wing where she had spent the last 5 years.  And she was increasingly aggravated with Josh for ruining what should have been one of the greatest, most exciting days of her life.

Friday had been a blur.  She had desperately tried to catch him all day, to try to talk to him and at least say a proper good-bye and thank you, but he was maddeningly absent for most of the day.  He ducked in and out a couple of times, but spent most of the day on the Hill and barely called to check in with her.  At the end of the day, she was forced to just leave him a folded note, with the passwords to her computer, and the key to his apartment taped to the inside.  She wasn’t going to be the person who he let into that part of his life, anymore.  

She began to wonder if it was a new woman that had him acting so weird.  That would certainly explain his bizarre behavior.  It had happened before.  It happened with Amy.  When he was ensorcelled, he had someone else to take care of him, and he didn’t need to rely on Donna as much.  It must be love at first sight, Donna had thought.  That would help explain the utter lack of…anything, from him, regarding her leaving.  She had wondered, on her Metro ride home on Friday night, who the new Amy/Mandy clone was, and started obsessively trying to remember every single woman who was listed in Josh’s Rolodex.

Her suspicions were further “confirmed” for her over the weekend, when he didn’t call.  She had spent almost every weekend of the past 5 years either working with Josh in the Wing, or on the phone with him planning the following week.  That was it.  He was off having ridiculous amounts of sex with some woman that he was probably going to marry, and in a few months Donna would get a polite invitation to their big day and that would, she was sure, be the end of her sanity.  She was already mentally dictating a polite response in her head, thanking them for the invitation, but telling them a lie as to why she couldn’t go.

She was bored senseless by 2pm on Saturday.  She had absolutely no idea what to do with herself, and had too much free time to sit and brood and be upset about how easy it was for Josh to let her go.

Despair set in by Sunday morning, when she woke, as she always did, without an alarm and went to pick up the phone to call him and check in.  She sleepily pulled the receiver to her ear, and then remembered, all at once, all that had happened in the past few days.  She hung up the receiver, pulled the covers over her head, and had a good long cry.

“Thank you for all that you’ve done for me,” he had said, the night of the election.  *You were a fool to think he meant anything other than the obvious,* she berated herself as she huddled on her sofa with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a pile of chick flicks from Blockbuster on the table next to her.  “He was thanking you for typing his memos and for filing his reports, and for answering his phone and managing his schedule so efficiently that he had time to do other things, like go out and find the woman of his dreams and marry her and oh yes, spend all day having sex with her instead of calling to wish me luck on my first day,” she said out loud to the four walls of her living room.

Sunday was a bad day.

And so here she was on Monday, stopping outside the office of the First Lady’s Chief of Staff, Lily Mays, and hoping that no one would notice that she felt like her world was crashing down around her. 

Lily greeted Donna warmly.  “Hi!  I’m glad that you’re here.  Mrs. B’s got us all hopping around here with her renewed enthusiasm – and I think you’re a big part of it,” Lily said with a smile.  “Are you ready to rumble?”

Donna managed a smile in return.  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, with a laugh.  “Where do we start?”

“Well, first, let’s get you situated at your desk, and then we’ll go from there.”  Lily led Donna down a short hallway, took a left down another, and then pulled up short outside a very small, windowless office.

“I know it’s not much, but space is tight around here…What?”

Donna was standing, speechless.  “I get…I get an *office?*” she asked, incredulous.

Lily chuckled.  “Well, I can see you’re going to be easy to please.”  She yelled over her shoulder, “Hey, Martie?  Can you come here for a minute?”  A young woman with curly brown, short hair came over and gave Donna a smile.  “Hi,” she said, sticking out a hand.  “You must be Donna.  Pleased to meet you, I’m Martie,” she said, shaking a very surprised Donna’s hand.

Donna, not knowing where this was going, gave an enthusiastic but puzzled “Hi.”

Lily looked at the confusion on Donna’s face, read it right, and then smoothed the way.  “Martie’s one of the area staff assistants, you’ll be sharing her with Mike Dunleavy and Sarah Meyers,” Lily said, laughing as Mike and Sarah, overhearing, popped out of their offices to wave hello, and laughing as she watched Donna realize what was going on.  “She can help you with paperwork, filing, photocopying, some research, so that you can concentrate on wearing a path between the Wings,” Lily said with a smile.

Donna began to laugh, and then put down her shoulder bag, putting her hand on Lily’s arm to hold herself upright as she couldn’t stop.  Lily chuckled too, and explained to a confused Martie, “You’ll have to excuse Donna.  She just took a big step up in the world, and it’s all catching up with her.”

Donna finally got a hold of herself, and shaking her head at the craziness of it all, she walked into her office.  She turned, put her back to the room, and with confidence said, “I’m ready.  What’s first?”

Martie looked at Lily, and they both grinned at Donna.  “You have Senior Staff in 15 minutes,” they said in unison.  “Welcome to the East Wing,” Lily said, giving Donna a pat on the arm and a smile as she headed back down the hall.

Donna sat behind her desk, looked at her 3 and ½ walls, and felt, for a moment, a little less lost.

_________________

Donna spent the first couple of days getting to know everyone in Mrs. Bartlet’s office, and getting caught up on the initiatives that her staff had been working on prior to the election.  On Wednesday, Donna took her first meeting with the First Lady.

“Good moring, Ma’am,” Donna said brightly as she was shown into Abbey’s office.

“And good morning to my new East-West Liaison!  How are things going so far?”

Donna gave her new boss a happy smile.  “I keep pinching myself, Ma’am.  Everyone’s been great, and very welcoming.  I’ve been brought up to speed on what you all have been working on up until now.”

“Excellent.  You, my dear, will be leading us in a new direction.”

“Ok,” Donna said, pulling out a notebook.  “I’m ready.”

“I hope so, because we’re in for the fight of our lives.  I want to reform healthcare.”

Donna’s eyes opened wide.  The First Lady had mentioned that in their first conversation together, but Donna didn’t know how serious Abbey really had been.

“That’s a big goal, Mrs. Bartlet.”

“Yup.”

“Other First Ladies have tried to take this on, and failed spectacularly.”

“Yup.”

“Of course,” Donna said, sitting back in her chair and tapping her pen against her mouth, “they weren’t doctors, and they were putting all their eggs in their first-term…uh, basket,” Donna said, laughing at her own mangled mixed metaphor.  “Glad Toby wasn’t here to hear that,” she said with a smile.  She thought for another moment as Abbey watched her.  “I compiled a folder for Josh two years ago on all things Heathcare – the history, initiatives to this point, possible future strategies for consideration,” she said.  “We had to shelve it when the hearings came around.”

“Naturally.  Think you can get a copy of the file?  That would be a great place for us to start.”

Donna looked up quickly, then down to her notebook again.  Not raising her eyes again, she answered, “Sure, I’ll send Martie over to grab it.”

“Donna, you should go grab it, say hi to everyone.  I’m sure you miss…them.”

The younger woman looked up.  “Oh, it’s going to be a crazy day around here, it’ll just be easier….”

“Donna.”

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Your smile hasn’t reached your eyes.  What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Ma’am,” Donna said, trying to inject some happiness into her expression, but failing miserably.  “Everything’s so great.  I really am excited about this position, and the task before us.  Really, Ma’am!”

“I know you are, Donna, but it seems like you have some leftover issues from your last position.”

Donna sat back, stared at the First Lady for a moment, and then looked away.  “He didn’t need me,” she said, quietly.

“What?”

Donna looked back at Abbey with sad eyes.  “He didn’t need me.”

“Donna, of course he did.”

“No, he didn’t.  My whole life, everything about my life was wrapped up in him, and last Thursday…he…it didn’t even bother him, that I was leaving.  He couldn’t have been happier about it.  I just got a ‘wow, it’s been a great partnership,’ ‘great job organizing the office,’ ‘good luck in the new position.’  That’s it.  He didn’t even try to stop me from going.  He didn’t even…”  Donna got up to pace now.  “I thought I was more to him than just a secretary, Ma’am.  I thought…”  Donna forced down tears, determined not to cry in the First Lady’s office.  “He didn’t say good-bye.  He didn’t call to wish me luck.  He didn’t…”  Donna sighed, and sat back down in her chair.  “I thought we had more between us than the job,” Donna said, raising her eyes in grim determination to the First Lady.  “I was wrong.  I’m sad about that,” the younger woman said with resignation.  

*You’re devastated about that,* Abbey thought to herself, then adding, *Oh, Josh, you MORON.*

Donna, mortified with herself for talking about this for so long in a business meeting, stood up quickly.  “I’m sorry, Ma’am.  Anyway, I’m very excited about this position, and taking on the healthcare industry.  We’re going to make things better,” Donna said with renewed energy.  “I’ll make sure I get the files from Josh, and I’ll be ready to brief you tomorrow morning, with a full report and possible strategies for going forward.”

“Excellent, Donna.  We’re going to do this.”

Donna gave Abbey a thin, but determined smile.  “Yes we are, Ma’am.  Thank you,” she said as she exited the room.

Abbey picked up her phone and called her scheduler.  “Patty, can you clear an hour for me later on today?” all the while thinking to herself, *Moron!*

__________________

Donna had hoped to have Martie do her dirty work for her, but the younger woman was tied up all day working on a project for Mike and Sarah.  So Donna squared her shoulders and headed for the West Wing.  She was happy that she had taken particular care this day with her clothes and hair – she wanted to hide behind a perfectly coiffed shield of professionalism.  *Screw him,* she thought angrily as she lengthened her stride.  *If he wants a colleague, he’ll have a colleague.  I’m done pining over Josh Lyman.*

Of course, the second she saw her old desk, with a new woman sitting at it, all of her resolve began to melt away.  Donna approached the woman and said hello.

“Hi there.  Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m Donna Moss, you must be my replacement from the temp pool?”

“Hi there.  I’m Christine.  It’s nice to meet you, I’ve head a lot about you.”

*Yes, no doubt my typing and filing skills are infamous in this part of the world,* Donna thought bitterly.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for a file…”

“Hey.”

Donna steeled herself, then turned when she heard his greeting.  He was standing outside his office, hands in his pockets, with a look on his face she couldn’t read.  *Great.  It’s been three days, and already I have no idea how to read him,* she thought with a pang.

“Hi there.  I was hoping to get a copy of the Heathcare binder?  You know, the one from two years ago?”

“Sure,” Josh said, searching her face for any sign of…anything, and found he couldn’t read her.  *5 years watching every emotion she’s ever had moving across that face, and after three days, I can’t read her,* he thought, trying not to panic.  “You look…different,” he said, trying to figure out what it was.  Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, and her suit was new, but that wasn’t it.  It was the icy forcefield she had up between them that was throwing him now.

“I’m the same person, Josh,” she said, testily now.  “So, the file?  Can I take it with me and make a copy of it?”

“Sure,” Josh said, now really hearing what it was she was looking for.  “Healthcare?  Abbey wants to go after Healthcare?”

“Yes,” Donna said, watching as Christine went over to the filing cabinets and pulled the file for her.  “And we’re going to fix it,” she said with determination.

Josh honestly didn’t think he’d ever been more turned on than he was now, seeing the woman he loved come into her own.  And that made her chilly demeanor now even more nerve-wracking.

“What are you doing for dinner tonight?” he said, taking a step closer.  “I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things.”

*Like what, like asking me how the filing system works for the millionth time?* she thought bitterly to herself.  “I don’t have time for dinner,” she said, taking a step away.  “Sorry, it’s going to be a long night.  I need to synthesize this for Mrs. Bartlet by tomorrow.  You know how it is,” she said, giving him a wan smile.  “I have to go, Josh.  Thanks for the file,” she said to both him and Christine.  “I’ll get it back to you by tomorrow.”

He watched her walk out, his heart sinking into his gut.

“So, that was her?” Christine asked, a bit confused.  Everyone had told her that Josh and Donna were closer than your average boss and assistant, but she felt the deep-freeze between them from a mile away.

“I think so,” Josh said, watching the space where Donna had been.


	9. Election Night 9

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 9: Cutting to the Chase**

Josh sat at his desk, staring at his phone.  He went to pick up the receiver, then changed his mind and pulled his hand away.  He got up to pace.  He stared out his window.  He went for the phone again.  He sat back down, and put his head in his hands.

He answered the knock at his door with a whiny “Come in.”

“Josh, the First Lady is here to see you,” Christine said, a bit nervous at her first meeting with Abbey Bartlet.

“Send her in,” Josh said, straightening up and standing to greet her.

“Thank you, Christine,” Abbey said, smiling at her.  Christine left them alone and shut the door behind her.

“She seems sweet,” Abbey said, gesturing back over her shoulder at the younger woman.

“What?  Oh, yeah, she’s fine,” a distracted Josh said, twirling a pen.

“Yes.  You’re not going to fall in love with *this* assistant, too, are you?” she said with a pointed stare.

“No, of course n…not,” Josh said, caught in her trap.  He dropped his head to rest in his hands, and peered up at Abbey from across his desk.

“You,” she said, sitting back and crossing her arms over her chest, and cutting to the chase, “are an idiot.”

Josh sighed heavily, not having any idea what to say to the First Lady of the United States about the fact that we was in love with his former assistant and that yes, quite possibly, he was a very large idiot. 

So Abbey soldiered on.  “What did you say to her last week about the new job?”  
  


Josh looked at her with wide, *What do you want from me?* eyes.  “I did what you told me to!  I supported her!  I told her I was happy for her!  I made it easy for her to see that I would be fine, she could just float on over to the East Wing and everything would be taken care of back here.”

“And are you fine?”

“No!” he said, whining in a way that made her want to both strangle him and hug him.  Abbey stood up and pulled her chair over behind Josh’s desk, so she could look him in the eye.  Or be close enough to beat him seneseless. She wasn’t sure which would be more effective at this point.

Abbey sighed, wondering why it is that she decided to play Cupid with possibly the most stubborn man in all of Washington.  And she was married to Jed Bartlet, she knew from stubborn.

“Joshua.  She thinks you didn’t need her.  She thinks you *still* don’t need her.”

“That’s ridiculous, I…”  and then he remembered that, by protecting his own heart, he had neglected to tend to hers.

“She thinks it was just about the job,” he said, slowly.  “She thinks I thought that was all we were,” he added, the pieces falling into place now.

“Finally, light dawns.  They tell me you’re a smart man, Josh, but really, I’m just not seeing it.”

“Ma’am, I…wait a minute.”

“What?”

“Bruno said that to me last week.  Almost exactly both of those sentences.”

Abbey picked at an imaginary spot of dirt on her skirt.  “So?  It’s a coincidence,” she said, waving a hand but not looking him in the eye.

Josh narrowed his eyes at her.  “I don’t think so, Ma’am.  Is something going on here that you want to tell me about?”

Abbey rolled her eyes and threw up her hands in frustration.  “Yes!  Alright!  Yes.  I enlisted Bruno to help me help you get a clue.  It was a brilliant strategy until you proved yourself to be…clueless!”

Josh sat back, utterly confused now.  “Ma’am?  You had a…strategy?  About me?”

“About you and Donna, yes.  Bruno and I were doing the Stroll on election night, and we saw you and Donna, laughing and having fun together.  He and I walked over to the drink table together, and I mentioned how sweet it had been that you held her when she cried, earlier that night.  And Bruno said, ‘And did you see how jealous he got, watching her dance the tango with the likes of me?’”

Josh scrunched up his face at that.  “I wasn’t *jealous,*” he insisted.

Abbey just cocked an eyebrow at him.  

Josh sighed, and rested his head on one hand on his desk, still looking at her beside him.  “I was jealous,” he admitted.  “You’re good at this,” he added, making her smile.

“I know,” she agreed.  “Anyway,” she said, we stood there, watching you, and I said to Bruno, not even realizing that I said it out loud, ‘I can’t believe I never noticed that they were in love before.’  And Bruno said, ‘It was the first thing I noticed.  That’s a very special thing they have there.  I hope Lyman wakes up some day and figures it out.’”

Josh was watching her, amazed.  “So you guys decided to put your heads together and help me figure it out.”

Abbey sat back and smiled.  “Maybe you’re not so dumb, after all.  What took you so long, Josh?”

“It’s…sleazy.  It’s a cliché.  The boss and the assistant.”

“It would be sleazy, if you weren’t the man you are.  And if all you wanted was something cheap.”  Abbey cocked her head and tried to look stern.  “You don’t just want something cheap, right Joshua?”

“No, ma’am, of course not.  But…anyway, before now, it would have been a political nightmare.  Nothing could have happened between us before last Tuesday.”

“So now it’s after last Tuesday!  And anyway, she’s not your assistant anymore!  So what in the hell are you waiting for?”

Josh felt a million possibilities begin to formulate within him, but they were tamped down with one sobering thought.  “What if she doesn’t…”  
  


“She does.”

“How do you…”

“She does.”

Josh just looked at her, his heart in his eyes, and it nearly broke her heart.

“Joshua.  I’m a woman in love, myself.  Trust me.”

Josh sighed, dropped his eyes, and looked up at her again.

“Ma’am, why are you…I mean, I don’t understand where all this is coming from.”

She just looked at him, for a long, long minute, and a softness came over her that the West Wingers rarely got to see.  She reached over, and placed her hands, one on top of the other, over his heart.  Her lip quivered, just a bit.  “I had to be a doctor, that day,” she said, waging a mighty battle within herself to keep her emotions in check.  “That day you got hurt.  That day you took a bullet for my husband, right here,” she said, not daring to meet his eyes, and just keeping them trained on her hands.  “I was a doctor for everyone, for Donna, especially, that day, telling them, and telling her what was going on with you, with your body, with your heart.  I was very clinical, making sure I could help everyone else stay calm and understand what was going on.  And I made sure that those doctors did a good job repairing your heart,” she said, pressing his chest a little, and then dropping her hands to grab a hold of his own.  “But I’m not always a doctor,” she said, sniffling now, and looking in his eyes, “and I can’t always be clinical and detached, and I still feel responsible for your heart.  That bullet hit you, instead of my husband, and I don’t know…” she stopped, and looked away, then back again, now forgetting about tears that ran down her face.  *I don’t know how to thank you, and I feel terrible that I want to thank you.  I don’t know what I would have done if he had died.  I don’t know if I could have lived with it if *you* had died.*  

She tried a different way of saying what she felt.  “I tried throwing you together with Amy Gardner, to see if that would work.  I’m glad it didn’t,” she said, smiling a bit now.  “I know now that she wasn’t the one.  I knew who was when I saw you and Donna dancing together on election night, and you holding her while she cried, and you watching her while she tangoed.  I saw what’s there.  And so I just...thought I’d try, one more time, to make your heart whole.  I almost lost the most important piece of my life that day,” she said, squeezing Josh’s hands.  “For a few very long moments, I had to contemplate life without him.  Life’s too short, you shouldn’t waste time when you know exactly who will make it whole.”  She sniffed, and Josh offered her a Kleenex.  “Are you getting this yet, Joshua, or do I need to keep spelling it out for you?” she said, laughing and dabbing her eyes.    

“I get it, Ma’am.”  Josh was so overwhelmed, he was quiet for long moments, and wishing he knew whether it would be against protocol for him to give the First Lady a very long hug right now.  Instead, he tried to make her laugh.

“So if you were me, and you had to stop being an moron and finally go about wooing the love of your life, how would you do it?”

Abbey did laugh, then shot him a look.  “Well, for starters, don’t even THINK of taking her to Tahiti,” she said, shaking her head when Josh’s eyes went wide.  “I can’t even believe that you…never mind,” she said, rolling her eyes, and adding, “but for the record, you’re an idiot.  Anyway.  Hmmm.  Wooing Donna.  Well, there’s one approach that worked pretty well on me, once…” she said, smiling, and then she sat back to tell him a story.


	10. Election Night 10

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

**Chap. 10:  Full Circle**

Donna trudged home that night, looking forward to a hot shower and a good cry.  She was hoping that she’d spend at least ten minutes between the time that she walked in, and the time that she went to sleep, not thinking about Josh.  She wasn’t hopeful that she’d succeed, however.

She sighed heavily at the door to her apartment, leaning her forehead wearily on the outside as she fished in her coat pocket for her keys.  She unlocked the door, and pushed it open.

It took a moment for the scene before her to go from her eyes to her brain and then register there, but long moments later, when all her synapses were firing at the same time, she realized that the room was full of flickering candles, and Josh was standing in front of her couch, in jeans and a navy blue sweater.  He stood, hands tucked into his front pockets, and smiled at her, a bit sheepishly, but with dimples at the ready.

“Hi.  You’re home late,” he said, coming to her, as she seemed to be frozen in place.  “Jeez, that new boss of yours sure is a slave driver,” he joked.

“Josh?”

“That’s me,” he said, trying to come off as breezily cheery.  His heart was pounding a mile a minute, however.  He reached behind her and nudged her front door shut.  “Here, let me get that,” he said, noticing how utterly confused Donna was as he grabbed her shoulder bag and lay it down next to the door.  He pulled her jacket off her arms and hung it on the nearby coat rack.  

“Josh, what are you doing here?”

“Keeping dinner warm.  You didn’t have time to have dinner out with me, so I figured I’d bring it by.  Have you eaten?”

Donna just stared, absolutely dumbstruck, as Josh puttered around her kitchen, pulling on an oven mitt to reach into her stove and pull out a pan full of lasagne.  

“Did you…you cooked food?”  Donna said, now wondering where Rod Serling and the rest of the Twilight Zone crew was hiding.

“Well, I wish I could say I did, but the nice people at Bertolucci’s put this together for me, and told me how to reheat it for you.  Would you like some garlic bread, too?  Some wine?”  He balanced the tray of lasagne on her stove, threw off the mitt, and leaned against the counter.  He was still smiling.

*Maybe it’s Candid Camera*, she thought now.  One of those sorts of shows.  That had to be the only explanation.  At any rate, she was ready for the joke to be over.

“Josh, look, I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing…”

“Well, I think that should be obvious, Donna.”

Now she was starting to get angry, and was very concerned that she might burst into tears as a result.  “Josh, I’m really tired.  So no, it’s not obvious.  Why don’t you spell it out for me.”

“Ok.  I hired myself.”

“Excuse me?”  Donna thought it was quite possible that either she or Josh had gone crazy.  She wasn’t quite sure who it was yet.

“I hired myself.”

“To do what?  Be my personal chef?”

“No.  To be your assistant.”

“My…what?”

“Your assistant,” he repeated.  “The whole ‘hiring yourself’ worked so well for us once, I thought I’d return the favor.”

She had absolutely no idea what to say.  Donna just stood in her hallway, gaping at him as he stood in her kitchen.

“You’ve done such a great job taking care of me, all these years, Donna, I thought you could use someone to return the favor,” he said, trying to pretend to be absorbed in figuring out whether the lasagne was heated all the way through, when in reality, he had no clue how to figure that out, and anyway, he didn’t give a crap about the lasagne, just about the woman standing across the room from him.

“Josh…”

Watching her eyes, he dropped the spatula he was using to poke at the lasagne, and moved so that he was standing right in front of her.  Her eyes, full of confusion and anger and sadness, nearly broke his heart.

“Yes?” he said, putting his hands back into his pockets, so that he didn’t just reach out and grab her and hold onto her so that she couldn’t ever go.

“I don’t need you to be my assistant, Josh,” she said quietly, too scared to go any further than that.

So Josh bit the bullet for both of them.  “To my utter surprise, Donna, I don’t need you to be that for me anymore, either.  I don’t need you to file for me, or take my messages at work, or type my emails for me, or any of the million other office-related things that you did so competently for me over the past five years.  I can hire someone else to do all that.”  He looked at her for a long moment, then reached out, tentatively, to hold her face in his hands, his fingers tangling in her hair and his thumbs stroking her cheeks.  He took it as a good sign that she leaned into his touch.  “But I need _you_.  I need you to make me laugh, and to argue with me, and to make me think about the world in new ways, and to be the other half of my brain and heart.  I need you in my life, because you make me happy.”  He looked down at her mouth, running one thumb over the edge of her bottom lip, then looked up to her eyes again, as he spoke in a low voice.  "I need you to keep taking care of me like that.  And I want to start taking care of you, like that.  So, if you don’t need me as an assistant, I’m hoping that instead, you’ll let me hire myself as your boyfriend.” 

Donna stood still, her face and her heart in his hands, and still had no idea what to say.  Josh gave her a small smile, and made his final pitch.  “Take a chance on me, Donna,” he said, quietly, and sincerely.  “I think I could be good at this.  I think you might find me valuable.”

Donna's stared at him, not breathing, hearing the words she had once spoken to him, so long ago, brought back to her.  Then her eyes filled with tears as she reached under his arms with her hands, and brought his face in so that she could kiss him.  

It was slow, and it was sweet.  First their lips met, testing each other, slowing separating and meeting again, learning the taste and texture of each other. Then the very tips of their tongues touched, eliciting a small, involuntary gasp from Donna.   Josh ran his hands down from her hair to caress her neck and shoulders, and then he pulled her into his body with one hand on the back of her head and one hand plastered to the small of her back.

They stood and kissed, trying to get the other closer and closer as they ran hands over each other’s arms, back, neck, face, shoulders and hips.  Donna buried her hands in his curly hair.  Josh started slowly exploring her ear with his mouth and tongue, and he spoke again, softly.  “I didn’t really know if you wanted this,” he said, pulling a moan from her throat as he found a spot on her neck that made her eyes flutter and her skin tingle.

“I didn’t dare hope for this,” Donna whispered, dropping kisses on his face while exploring his back with her fingertips.

Donna gasped as Josh’s hands brushed the sides of her breasts, then moved to her hips and then up her back again.  “Why did you…,” she began, trying hard to keep talking when her system was careening out of control.  “The food, and the candles,” she said, sighing as he gently tugged her shirt collar to one side, baring her shoulder for his lips.  “It’s so….”

“‘Romantic’ is the word I think you’re going for,” Josh said, pulling back a bit and resting his forehead against hers, his hands still banded around her.  “I had a long talk with Mrs. Bartlet.  She told me that this is how the President got *her* to be *his* girlfriend,” he said, laughing.  “Burnt lasagne and lots of candles.”  Then he got serious for a moment, and looked into her eyes.  “Election night?  We watched them dance, and you said you wanted what they have,” he said, watching her face.  “I want what they have, too.  I want that with you.”

Donna gave him a million-watt smile.  “Oh, you are *so* hired,” she said, pulling him in for a gentle kiss.  She laughed as he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her in for a bone-crushing, body-molding hug and kiss.  “Not so fast, Josh.  I’m still going to want to see your resume,” she said wickedly in his ear.

Josh grinned widely at that.  “Oh, believe me, Donnatella, it’s impressive,” he bantered back, whispering seductively in her ear.  “I have all sorts of…qualifications,” he added, kissing his way down the side of her throat, “that will make me the perfect guy for this position.  Or, you know, any position,” he said, earning a tug on his hair and a laugh and a gasp from Donna as he started moving his mouth across her collarbone.

“We’re really going to do this?” she asked as he backed her towards her couch.

“OH yeah,” Josh said as he gently guided her down onto the couch.

“JOSH!” Donna giggled as he tickled her ribs beneath her shirt, then contented himself with running his hand up her bare back as they sat, then lay back, entwined on the couch.  Donna looked down at him from her position lying on top of him.  “That’s not what I meant…I meant, you and me?  We’re really going to try to…have an ‘us’?”

Josh smiled up at her, tucking her hair behind her ears and kissing her passionately, his hands wound into the hair at the base of her neck.  He pulled her down for a hug, tucked her into his side, fit his arms around her middle, and enjoyed the feel of her on top of him.  “We’ve had an us for a long time, Donnatella.  This is the new and improved us.  And someday, years from now, someone’s going to watch us as we’re dancing, and say ‘Look how much they love each other.  After everything they’ve been through, after all these years, there they are, so much in love.”  Her heart melted at his very typical, non-admission, admission of love.  “And that someone’s going to wish they had what we’ve had for so long,” he concluded, resting his lips against her forehead, content to hold her in his arms, and know that she was his.

And Donna smiled into his chest, traced one of his dimples with a soft finger, exhaled, and contemplated the many benefits of already being in love with her brand-new boyfriend.

And then she raised her head for another kiss.


	11. Epilogue

**Election Night**

**by:** Carrie  


**Characters:** Donna, Josh  
**Category:** Romance  
**Rating:** MATURE  
**Summary:** Election Night, and everything after  
**Notes:** Here was what I wanted to see on Election Night in S4.  Ah well, we can’t have everything.  Enjoy!  


* * *

***Epilogue***

Mid-term Election Night, 2 years later.

“You guys!  Get in here!  They’re gonna call the Florida 23rd!”

It was another election night, and the West Wing was abuzz with happy staffers.  The Democrats were winning in landslides across the country; they had retained and strengthened their majority in the Senate, and now they were all waiting on the results of the race that would put them over the top in the House.

Donna looked around at a happily familiar scene, with some subtle changes.  

President and Mrs. Bartlet had once again decided to hear the election results with the staff in the West Wing.  Their children weren’t here this time, but as always, Leo stood behind Jed to one side, his hand on his old friend’s shoulder, his expression unreadable.  

“Quiet!” yelled CJ, as Sam used the remote to turn up the volume on the TVs, all tuned to NBC.

Margaret and Bruno, now a full-time political Advisor to the President, grabbed each other’s hands, pretended that they each hadn’t tried to plan it, and held their breath.

Donna, in a crisp business suit, gave one last instruction to her assistant over her cell phone, then snapped it shut and cast her eyes up to the TV.

Josh stood to Donna’s side, with one hand on his hip, one arm around her waist, and his “Victory is mine!” face on for all to see.

Toby stood resolute, his eyes cast upward, his mouth chewing one last bite of pie taken from the plate in his hands.  He had the “I am *so* da man” look plastered on his own bearded mug.

CJ now stood rolling her eyes at Toby and Josh.

Sam pulled Mallory in front of him, wrapped his arms around her pregnant waist, dropped a kiss on her neck, and squared his shoulders.

Debbie came in just at the last second, and rested her hands on Charlie’s upper arms.

And Brian Williams touched his earpiece, looked to the camera, and addressed the country.  “With 55% of the precincts reporting in, we are calling the Florida 23rd in favor of the Democratic challeng…”

That was all you could hear before all hell broke loose in the West Wing.

A jubilant celebration broke out in the Communications bullpen as they celebrated taking both the House and the Senate.  Abbey came over to give Donna an enormous hug, shouting “Look out, HMOs, here comes health care reform!”  They were thrilled with the victory, knowing that it would make it easier to get bills passed, and to effect real change.  High-fives went up all around the room, and the champagne was broken out once again.

Donna whirled around the room, hugging everyone and laughing with her friends and colleagues.  Finally, she looked around for Josh, and found him staring at her, misty-eyed.  “You’re not going to burst into tears on me, are you Josh?” she joked, crossing the room to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him passionately.  

He smiled into her hair, and pulled her hands down to hold them between their bodies.  “No, but since things went so well tonight, I thought this might be a good time for me to talk to you about the possibility of a promotion…I’d like a title bump.”

Donna smiled, but knit her brow as is to say, “Huh?”

Josh leaned in to kiss her, and then whispered, against her lips, “Look down.”

She did, and saw a ring on her finger.

“I’d like to upgrade from boyfriend to fiancé.”

And she let out an ear-splitting “YES!” that stopped all conversation in the room.

Everyone looked over to see what had happened, saw their faces, their hands, and the ring, and the room when ballistic all over again.  They were rushed by the group, with hugs and slaps on the back and kisses.

Abbey was the last to come over.  “I couldn’t be happier,” she said, kissing them both.

“Well, Ma’am, I think we owe it to you,” Josh said, laughing and beaming into Donna’s still-stunned eyes.

Abbey laughed, then had an idea.  “Larry?  Where’s Larry?”

“Right here, Ma’am.”

“How about you run home and get your CDs?  We have two very important reasons to celebrate, and it’s high time for another White House Dance Party.”

And another cheer went up in that very happy room.

Finis.


End file.
